Email: September 20th

I love you all, just want to say! *Waves*

I miss you all very much but Im busy here over in Bulgaria! The work is GOING! Става бе!! Its a good feeling, for sure.

Sister Loss and I tried meeting with the old 86 yr old ballerina grandma at the park. She didnt show up for our appointment. I think she just forgot. Daaaaaaanggg itttt. Ah well. I look for her when I am in the park surveying and contacting. Hopefully we'll bump into her again.

Exciting news though!! Remember how I told you all about that cool Chess guy named Emille that we met last week?? We met with him THREE TIMES this week! He is SOOOO legit. Ive been learning more and more about him and he fascinates me. Sister Loss and I feel very connected with him. I feel like I have a special connection with him. He really likes our company and I know our lessons are touching his heart. The first two times we met with him at the church he would sit down at the table and hurry to get his chess board out, make us check mate him and then teach us something about life but the last lesson we taught him he sat, listened and disgested it. I feel the spirit so strong when I teach Emille probably because we speak in english. Its so strong that I begin to cry when I testify of the principals we teach him. Whenever he feels the spirit too much he goes right back to the chess board and wants us to play. It can be annoying but hes really changing, fast. He wants to learn. I know hes searching and I can be bold with him, I feel it in my bones. After our second lesson, he asked Loss and I to go out to get some pizza. We had to decline because we had english over on the other side of Sofia. Traveling takes awhile you know. He seemed sad but ok. I know hes a lonely man. He told us that he doesnt think of us as Sisters but as his Daughters. I definetly see him as my bulgarian father. He is a very smart. We got to talking to him about his life. I love asking questions so of course Im asking him about his marriage, his son, his work, his therapy, etc etc. He told me that he works part time for a mental health center HE founded. He works for himself which is very nice. Hes not in it for the money but to help and love others. Hes a philosopher, a psychiatrist and a man who is searching for the truth. His wife has nothing to do with him and his son is the same. Our last lesson he asked Loss and I why we'll play chess with him but his son wont play chess with him. Poor Emille. I have some feelings and thoughts about why his divorce happened. I know Emille is a thinker and sometimes his thoughts can run away with himself..lol. But I think some other things happened as well....yaaa. Anyway, I love the guy. I was asking him about the therapy his center gives. Its all social therapy. I asked him if he could hypnotize someone because he told me thats a kind of therapy in the psychotherapy world. He told me he doesnt like imposing in on someone elses mind when they have no control over it. He says its unethical. I asked him how to hypnotize someone but he danced around it and wouldnt tell me lol..probably a good thing. I told him that I went to a hypnotist show and it was really cool. He scrunched up his face and said, "Why did you like it?" I respond with, "Its cool! entertainment!" He then said, "Ya...entertainment in all the wrong ways." Ahhhhhh Emille. Hes a wise old one. I feel like Im in a movie with him. Hes a master at chess so he teaches us how to play while Loss and I teach the gospel to him and slowly were taking his too logical of a mind and showing him how the gospel works in our loves and the blessing of it. I LOVE TEACHING EMILLE. I told him that when I return home we will have to stay in touch with Skype. He said he would only get Skype once I was at home. Hes not getting it right now lol. Oh Emille! lol. Hes a very smart guy. Ive never had a psychiatrist as a friend and I love it lol. Pray for him, please?

Hmm what else? We had Zone Conference yesterday. Thats why I didnt write yesterday. It was really good. I heard a lot of things I needed to hear. For example - Building our foundation aka Testimony, on a FIRM, STRONG, foundation and not just slabbing something on there and hoping that itll become something. Really really good talk. There are 6 pillars to our foundation and we need to make them strong. I dont have time to write them all out but it was definitely good to hear. I need to work on strengthening my pillars so I have a firm building that never flows away when the storm beats upon it.

So crazy story for you all, especially for my family and especially for Hillary, Jordan, Lily and now Lil 'Ob. After church on sunday Loss and I sat in the church kitchen taking our lunch hour, eating our lunch. All of the sudden it seemed like my intuition just turned on. I knew something was going on. I just knew it. Ive had these feelings happen a lot on my mission. All of the sudden I get this feeling in my stomach and I just know something bad or good is happening with someone back home. I had this feeling around 1:15 pm on sunday. I wasnt sure what was going on but if we think about it...what time was it in Ohio? 6:15 am. 15 minutes before my new little nephew was born! The crazy thing is is that I thought of my little nephew being born and I knew the feeling wasnt because something BAD was happening so I put it at rest. Crazy huh?

The gospel is true! Christ lives and the Lord loves us so much! He never leaves us alone even if it seems like he does. He just wants wants whats best for us and sometimes he lets us struggle for awhile so we can find our way by faith. Stay strong everyone! I love this experience and I am ever so grateful for it. Много благодарна съм за евангелието във живота ми.

Have a good week all!

-Sister Kinkead

Email: September 12th

Hey hey hey..

The Bulgaria, Sofia Mission.. "The 'MegaDeath' rollercoaster". Ahhh it never stops and it never has mercy on you at all. Whipped around, lashed about, all the while your head keeps jerking and hitting your hard plastic seat. It hurts. The BSM aint no joke, kids. Its tough. This past week Ive done a lot of growing up and realizing past problems/flaws that I have that I have always put on the back burner. Well, the mission makes sure you cant put anything on the back burner, thats for sure. It brings everything up out of the ground, plant and all. Loss and I are thee best of friends. Note that after this transfer we will have been together for 22 weeks. Thats a lot of time. Mmk? Especially when you have to live with this person and work with this person 24/7. You eat sleep and breathe with this person. Well...Loss and I have been hitting some pretty rocky roads lately. We get short, lash out or snap at each other. We're on edge to say the least. Its not because we hate each other, its just other things that we are dealing with as missionaries and we get anxious and antsy. Loss has made me realize some things that I do that are big No-Nos in the communication world. I would go into detail but I think I'll save it all for when Im home and I can share those things with people who understand me more. Dont worry, Ive got it all logged in my real journal. I think its important to write lessons you have learned down so that you can remember them and apply them to your life and not just forget about them. Eh?

Lately the people have been flocking to Loss and I. Its crazy. We've done some streetboarding lately and instead of standing up and getting in their face about the gospel, we sit down on the park bench and pay no attention to our streetboard. We've met some really cool people that way. This one man, named Emille, came up to us with a chess board and asked us if we wanted to play. We said, sure why not? He taught us a basic rule of chess and how to check mate someone. He gave us the history and the object of the game. He told us that Chess was his "Plan" of life. I took that analogy and ran with it. We talked for a bit about the gospel and the real plan that our Heavenly Father has for us. He was a really cool guy and had a opened heart. He asked us if he could teach us more about how to play chess. We told him that we were down as long as we could teach a spiritual message every time we met with him. He wasnt too excited about it but agreed. He told us that hes divorced, probably in his 50s somewhere and a psychiatrist at a mental health clinic near Plovdiv. He can speak english and hes one of those thinkers who only use logic but I can see hes open to us. We meet with him tonight and Im excited! Ive never known how to play chess but he makes me get excited for it lol.

I met a man and his family on the subway yesterday. They talked for us for 2 minutes and invited us out to dinner with them. We had to say no because it was sunday but we got their number and hopefully we'll meet with them too! The man asked me if I was french because he said I have a very artistic look/appearance and it looks french. I took it as a compliment lol.

At the end of yesterday evening Loss and I were in the park trying to strike up conversations with people through our surveys. 2 little old grandmas invited us to sit down and talk with them. I got to talking to one of them named, Ellie. Shes 86 and she told me how her husband had passed away and she was living alone. She told me that she loooooved music. She began to sing Frank Sinatra to me and her eyes just LIT UP. I know her connection with music because thats how I am about my own music. Ellie was definitely interesting to talk to. She told me she had no kids because she was a ballerina all her life. The Russian team found her and hired her on and she would dance in Moscow a lot as a young woman. She spoke of the operas and the music she would dance to. She blew me away. Ive heard the Russian team is the best team in the world and that everyone tries to get on that team. Who wouldve thought I wouldve met someone in a park in bulgaria who danced for them? lol. I asked if we could meet again. I want her to bring pictures of her dancing days and I want to teach her the plan. She agreed to seeing each other again. She was so cute lol.

Im really starting to love my mission. Im starting to realize how much this experience is going to mean for me, how valuable. Its hard sometimes to find desire to go out and find people but I love the opportunity I have to be here and all the wonderful people Ive met. Im grateful for the lessons Im learning even though its a real smack in the face sometimes. Im grateful for the gospel in my life and the happiness it brings. If only people could realize how much instant happiness they could have if they grabbed a hold of the gospel. I want to testify that I know that this gospel is true and I love it with all my heart. Were not perfect people but thats ok, our Heavenly Father still loves us so much and all he wants us the best for us and for us to be happy in this life.

I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers, emails, your love and your support. Have a good week.

-Sister Kinkead

P.S. - If youre not LDS and you want to know more... www.lds.org. Check it out!

Email: September 5th

здраве всички! как сте вие?

Rosen had his baptism this week! Unfortunately, a lot of members were out of town due to a young single adult conference near Veliko Turnovo buuuuuut all 10 of us Sofia missionaries were there for it haha. Only 3 members showed up. I think Rosen liked it better that way though. He was already really nervous about the whole thing. It was really cute. He brought a humungous (? Im forgetting to spell in english, freak.) pizza because he wanted pizza for his refreshment hahaha. Its funny how bulgarians work, they bring stuff for their own things. Same with their birthdays. If its their birthday, they bring candy for everyone else and dont expect anything lol weird. Anyways, it was a good baptismal service. Loss and I thought that something was going to go wrong but nothing did. However, right after the baptism, when we were cleaning up the dishes from the refreshment table, Sister Loss broke one of the glass platters and sliced her finger open. Yaaaaaaaa. Lol. We had to take her to the hospital which was a nightmare. We got in to see the nurse and they said that they wanted to give her stitches. I told her no and she agreed because they hadnt even cleaned up from their last patient. Dried blood on the equipment table and trash everywhere. Some of their stuff was from the early 1900s too....*shudders* We got out of there. Afterwards, we had lunch with Rosen at a chinese restaurant which was really good. He told me that he had a question to ask me but couldnt at the moment. I asked him if he would tell me the next day and he laughed. He told me that he would have to wait and ask me and that it would be a long time from now. I got to thinking...Uuuuuh oooooh. I think our new convert/old investigator wants to ask me for my hand in marriage. Uh no lol. Im not sure how he can even think I would give him a chance...sorry but seriously lol. Hopefully he never asks lol.

Lately in our lessons Sister Loss and I have been doing object lessons. It makes a lesson so much more fun when you really get their attention. Everyone should check out www.mormonshare.com it has all kinds of ideas and fun things for lessons for church and what not. Its where I get all my object lesson ideas from haha!

Anneta, a less active were working with, never eats and were pretty sure she starves. For our next lesson were going over the commandment to fast. For our object lesson in that one, were going to make a huge feast for her. After 24 hrs of fasting we EAT! And then we will open the church kitchen door and feed her lots of good food! Im thinking corn on the cob. Ive been making that a lot lately. Mmm. Anyways, I know she'll love it. Shes eccentric but she has a really good heart and I love her.

The other day I got a called from Ivan from Plovdiv. Hes a member there that I worked with a lot. Hes the 20 yr old gypsy boy thats a member there. I couldnt take the call but I called him last night and he made me feel like a million dollars. He told me about how hes trying to become a missionary and about his girl problems. He asked me what he should do about his mission. Apparently, his branch president doesnt want him to go. He said to me, "Kinkate! What I do??" Members like him really look up to missionaries. I told him he should pray about it and then go to his branch president with his answer. I told him that he would have to put up a fight because Satan doesnt want him to go. He then said, "I know. I remember your testimony when you were here. You were so sincere. You had no way to pay but now you here in Bulgaria!! I know you so sincere, Sister Kinkate! I remember!" Awwwwwwww. Made me heart freakin melt! At least Ive done some good here in Bulgaria lol. Hes a really good kid and I think it would be good for him to be a missionary. Hes one of the few that I stay in contact with. Right before we hung up, he told me that he missed me, wanted me to call him more often and that he loved me. He makes me feel like Im a great missionary lol. I love that kid.

Soooo for my birthday....this little message goes out to my family. I want a video from each of my siblings and both of my parents compiled. I want a word or two from each one of you telling me whats up and how much you miss your sister hahaha ;) But really, it would be cool to have that for my birthday. Get some home lovin. Give it to Hillary and she can post it up on the blog so I can watch it. Get on it you guys! :P

Well...thats about it. Busy week, crazy week and Bulgaria's culture never seems to stop shocking me lol. Some lady the other day saw us in our apt entrance trying to get in and she yelled at us telling us that she was going to call the police. Loss looked at her and said, "Go for it" LOL. The women was just talk. The police cant do anything here lolol...

Anyways, have a good week! I love you all!

-Sister Kinkead

Email: August 30th

Hey hey hey,

Bulgaria is still hot as ever. Freak. I dont know how much longer I can take of the hot weather. The leaves have began to fall so I know Autumn is around the corner. Hopefully lol. Ive been hearing a lot about New York, Washington and California from bulgarians. Apparently a huge tornado? Whats going on over there? Hopefully everyone is safe.

Rosen is getting baptized this week on saturday! My first baptism! Im really excited and so is he. He is definitely one of those choice spirits and my heart aches for him because I know life is rough for him. But...it can be rough for everyone at some point or another but ya... Pray that he will continue to hold strong and not fall back into smoking or drinking. We played a game with this week where we blind folded him and made him walk around the room with all kinds of obstacles in the way. He didnt like it. He kept bumping into everything and getting frustrated. We did it again but the second time Sister Loss guided him by whispering which way he needed to go. We then gave a lesson about how the Holy Ghost works in our lives and how life can be so much harder when we dont have it. We have no direction. He thinks Satan will get off his back after his baptism but we keep telling him that Satan will just work even harder on him. He has no idea lol. Hes an awesome guy though. Love him.

This past week Ive been praying and pondering about new finding tools. Im getting burnt out with tracting, streetboarding and superman contacting (which means, we go up to people and just start talking to them, gah I get uncomfortable with that still). 3 ideas came to mind. One - make posters and stick them up everywhere in town with our numbers on it. Two - Stick advertisements in random mailboxes where ever we go. And thirdly - take our personal dvd player out and play the dvd, "Finding Happiness". Im sure that'll grab attention. Bulgarians always want to know whats going on lol. We've already posted up posters and put advertisements in mailboxes. We'll see if anyone calls us. *Crosses fingers*

Sister Loss is letting me guide the lessons now and take control of the whole thing. She is pushing me to grow up more as a missionary lol. I dont mind though, I need the pushing. I get too uncomfortable or hesitant to really say anything if Im not pushed or if I dont feel like I have anything to say. I need to get past that. The language continues to grow and Im finding Im starting to get better with understanding more. People at home are probably thinking, "Why hasnt she got the language down yet?" LOL. Its Bulgarian ok? And plus...any language takes time. Dont judge me!! Im trying!

Loss and I were going home the other night and we were outside the Sofia Soccer Stadium waiting for our bus. A HUGE game was going on. People clapping, cheering and yelling out. Apparently Romania came to visit and play against Bulgaria. 45,000 people were there. I got so excited just standing outside the stadium. I asked Loss if we could go in and contact but it was a no. It was only a joke anyway hahaha.

Well! Thats about it. I love you all and miss you!!! Have a good week.

-Sister Kinkead